Bakery products, and in particular muffins, are a common breakfast item. Common muffins include bran, blueberry, poppyseed, banana and banana-nut, lemon, cranberry, and others. In addition to being eaten for breakfast, muffins are often consumed as snack items throughout the day. There are various flavors of muffins that are generally directed to the snack food market; such flavors include chocolate, chocolate chip, and white chocolate.
With the rushed pace of most people's schedules, the majority of muffin consumers do not make and bake their own muffins. Rather, the majority of muffins are purchased in a ready-to-eat form.
Although many bakeries make the muffin batter themselves, it is very common for the batter to be provided to the bakery pre-deposited in a non-bakeable tray. This pre-deposited batter is usually frozen while in the tray, and the entire tray is shipped to the baker. Because of issues associated with the cost and weight of the tray, these trays are typically made from a non-metallic or non-conductive material, such as plastic. To bake the batter, the batter is removed from the tray and transferred to another pan for baking. The baking pans are typically metal pans, but attempts have been made to bake muffins in nonconductive pans.
Unfortunately, many times muffins baked in non-conductive pans have less than desirable baked characteristics. For example, often, muffins at the perimeter of the pan are more cooked than muffins in the center of the pan. Additionally, the tops of the muffins are often unevenly browned, asymmetrically shaped, or both. One common backing characteristic, known as “capping”, is commonly seen and is particularly undesirable. Capping occurs when the top has set (i.e., hardened), and then this top is pushed up, allowing batter from the interior of the muffin to ooze out to the side. The result is an undesirable muffin.
What is desired is an improved pan that can be used for baking bakery products, such as muffins.